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A SMOKE-FREE ZONE with NLPOne year on since the smoking ban, The ban on smoking in public places your health, plus public opinion granting Many smokers have mixed feelings about
it honorary pariah status, combined with
quitting: they want to lose the disadvantages
the current legislation making it so darned
of smoking but don’t want to lose the benefits.
polls, ‘three quarters of adults expressing their
inconvenient (hands up who enjoys popping
And they are absolutely right to be concerned
support’. Hefty legislation targets the ‘managers
outside in the cold and rain for a ciggy), what
about this, because there are indeed benefits to
of premises’ rather than smokers themselves;
interests me is that so many people continue
smoking; no one would do it if there weren’t.
‘managers’ are threatened with a fine of £2500
to do it. I suspect they haven’t cottoned on to
There are coercive self-help methods that insult
for failing to prevent puffers from lighting up
smokers and deny the benefits of smoking, but
– rather like bullying the prefects to make the
as well as being unkind and discourteous they
naughty kids behave. The result of this is that
approaches to quitting: either the NHS route,
we’re seeing more smoking than ever because
or, for those understandably wary of that
So, accepting for the moment the hypothesis
that there are benefits to smoking, how can we
Physical addiction
lose the smoking, but keep the benefits it was
is not the major
We can start by being attentive to what’s
issue the nicotine-
A little introspection shows the mind to be a
replacement
complicated process, changing all the time and
made up of many parts; it’s not a single stable
promoters would
entity. Sometimes there’s a conflict between
have us believe
two or more parts of it, as reflected in everyday
speech when somebody says: ‘Part of me wants
to do this, but another part wants to do that,
acupuncturist and later as an NLP Trainer
so I don’t know what to do!’ It’s reasonable to
nicotine-replacement products, plus Zyban and
and personal development coach, I’ve had
think that different parts of oneself would have
Champix (whose list of side effects includes
the privilege of helping many people to stop
one’s well-being at heart; however it’s only too
‘suicide ideation’), as ‘medicines’. So complete
smoking. I’ve become fascinated by the way
obvious that they can have different ideas of
companies that other more wholesome methods
despite all attempts to squash it – and despite
of helping people to stop smoking, such as NLP
its apparently insane self-destructiveness
(hospital entrances are full of coughing
One of the classical presuppositions of NLP
patients trailing drip stands, shivering in their
suggests: ‘A positive intention underlies any
pyjamas and fluffy bunny slippers, puffing
behaviour.’ If we’re open to the interesting idea
that there may be positive intentions underlying
even destructive habits such as smoking, we
every time she wanted to smoke; her husband
can explore some kind of constructive conflict
hated the smell of it on her skin, hair, clothes
resolution. This can avoid the disappointment
and breath, and had been nagging at her for
experienced by people who heroically battle
ages to stop; and of course she couldn’t smoke
the desire to smoke and succeed in suppressing
around the children. To make matters worse
it, only to succumb to temptation months or
her eldest daughter was receiving anti-smoking
years later. The fact that this happens so often
propaganda at school and coming home and
indicates that physical addiction to nicotine
laying on the guilt along the lines of, ‘Please,
is not the problem; anyone who has stopped
Mummy, I don’t want you to die.’ This
smoking for a year is beyond the nicotine
emotional blackmail had actually backfired,
dependency – and yet the desire to smoke is still
as it raised Chloe’s stress levels so she needed
lurking. As ironic graffiti artists have pointed
to smoke even more to calm herself down;
out: ‘Stopping smoking is easy – I’ve done it
and she’d resorted to lying to her daughter,
hundreds of times!’ It’s staying stopped that’s
pretending that she had stopped smoking – so
now she was hating herself for her dishonesty.
Let’s look at the idea that the impulse to
With all this incentive, why couldn’t she
smoke is prompted by a positive intention. If
stop? More accurately, why couldn’t she stay
that were so, then if people could find better
stopped? She had been able to manage without
ways to fulfil the intention they wouldn’t need
cigarettes for periods as long as three months;
but then had experienced an increasingly
Smokers need to reflect on the underlying
uncomfortable feeling that she identified as
purpose of the part of them that is prompting
a craving for a cigarette, and had eventually
them to smoke. Is it trying to offer them a way
yielded to it, usually after a few glasses of wine.
to feel better, maybe to relax, or think more
The fact that she could go for such long periods
clearly, or to reduce tension or alleviate some
without cigarettes indicated that physical
kind of unease? If so, how could they find
addiction to nicotine was not the major issue;
there was something else going on. She needed
to get in touch with the part of her that was
with the model of parts of the psyche are
particularly good for resolving the inner
conflicts associated with unwanted behaviours.
bring out the two parts of her mind that were
in conflict over the smoking, and imagine
them actually sitting in front of her, one on
or denial, often accompanied by guilt and
recriminations as the ‘goodie’ part punishes
like, if she could see them? It seemed that the
the ‘baddie’ part and the ‘baddie’ part feels
stop-smoking one looked like a rather glum
resentful and rebellious, we can work with
little goody-two-shoes, standing demurely
self-awareness and an attitude of kindness
with its hands clasped; while the smoking one
and enquiry to find alternatives that avoid
looked like a sparky little goddess, stark naked
and dancing wildly. It was easy to see that the sparky goddess was unlikely to take kindly to
being told what to do by the goody-two-shoes,
Let’s look at an example based on a real-life
and that while it might be possible to shut it
case history: a client of mine from several
in a box temporarily, it wouldn’t stay there
‘Chloe’ wanted to stop smoking; or rather
a part of her did – another part was very
about its positive intention for Chloe, it
resistant to the idea. In her mid-thirties,
transpired that it was battling to save Chloe’s
with three young children, Chloe knew she
youth, creativity, and ultimately her freedom
shouldn’t be smoking. It was inconvenient,
for self-expression – all of which she felt were
going outside in order to escape the family

NHS National Institute for Clinical Excellence Interferon alfa (pegylated and non-pegylated) and ribavirin for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C This guidance is a review and extension of Technology AppraisalGuidance No. 14 issued in October 2000. Technology Appraisal 75 January 2004 Technology Appraisal Guidance 75 Interferon alfa (pegylated and non-pegylated) and ribav